Teaching physics in primary school represents a didactic challenge, as students often encounter difficulties in understanding and forming appropriate conceptual representations when dealing with abstract physical concepts. Among the concepts where these difficulties frequently arise are density and buoyancy, since their understanding requires connecting experimental observations, comprehension of relationships between physical quantities and the transition from sensory experiences to abstract conceptual understanding. Therefore, science didactics emphasizes the importance of active learning, experimental work, and the use of diverse didactics approaches that can contribute to clearer structuring of explanations and more effective concept formation.
This master’s thesis examines the teaching of density and buoyancy in primary school from the perspective of contemporary didactic approaches. Special emphasis is placed on the use of selected neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) techniques to structure the teaching process and explain physical phenomena. The theoretical part of the thesis presents the fundamental characteristics of NLP, its basic models, and scientific concerns regarding its use, while also addressing physics teaching in primary school with a focus on density and buoyancy, as well as the issue of misconceptions in understanding phenomena related to fluid mechanics.
The empirical part of the thesis includes the design of a lesson and a worksheet for teaching density and buoyancy in primary school, in which selected NLP techniques are integrated into the learning activities. In addition to the development of teaching materials, the study also includes qualitative research conducted through semi-structured interviews with physics teachers. The aim of the interviews is to obtain professional opinions regarding the didactic suitability, feasibility and perceived advantages and limitations of the presented approaches.
The contribution of this thesis lies in the analytical examination of the possibilities of integrating selected communication and cognitive strategies into physics teaching, the presentation of didactic materials incorporating NLP techniques and the analysis of teachers’ professional perspectives as a basis for further pedagogical and empirical research in the field of physics education.
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